Voodoo' nurse Josephine Iyamu guilty of sex trafficking'

A London-based nurse has been convicted of trafficking five Nigerian women into Germany to work as prostitutes after subjecting them to "voodoo" rituals.
Josephine Iyamu forced the women to swear oaths to hand over money to her during "juju" ceremonies. Iyamu, 51, formerly of Bermondsey, was convicted of five counts of arranging or facilitating travel for sexual exploitation at Birmingham Crown Court.

Jurors also found her guilty of perverting the course of justice. The rituals saw the women forced to eat chicken hearts, drink blood containing worms, and have powder rubbed into cuts, the court heard. Iyamu is the first person to be convicted under Modern Slavery Act laws passed in 2015, allowing prosecutions of British citizens for overseas sexual trafficking.

She was born in Liberia, but became a British citizen in 2009 having been allowed to stay in the UK due to her nursing qualifications. Her husband, 60-year-old Efe Ali-Imaghodor, was acquitted of doing acts intending to pervert the course of justice.